Gas Chromatography used to Analyze Vegetable Oil

A food service vendor wanted to know whether a new vegetable oil was similar to the vegetable oil that they had used in the past. The oils were analyzed using gas chromatography mass spectrometry, or GC/MS analysis. Gas chromatography testing resulted in a gas chromatogram of the new vegetable oil (bottom figure) and the reference vegetable oil (top figure), shown below.

As seen in the figure below, the reference vegetable oil contains palmitic acid (retention time of 19.00 min), linoleic acid (retention time of 20.6 min), oleic acid (retention time of 20.7 min), and stearic acid (retention time of 20.9 min) which are not found in the new vegetable oil. Differences between the two cooking oils could potentially impact the food preparation process or the food itself.